


fumbling towards ecstasy

by ElasticElla



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Demon Shane Madej, M/M, Minor Character Death, Seer Ryan Bergara, shyanexchange2k18, shyanwritingevents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 18:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: "Alright, so we’re here at Donaxok’s crossroad-”“We stole a bridge last season, guess what we’re doing here?” Shane says.Ryan wheezes, “Yeah, increasing the ghoulboys’ property value.”“One landmark at a time,” Shane says with a wink.





	fumbling towards ecstasy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lowbanditoroads](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowbanditoroads/gifts).



> title from the same sarah mclachlan song's title  
> hope you enjoy rybergara!

_He’s walking along a road he does not recognize, but he knows it is real. The dreams are always lighter, superficial in every aspect. It’s the awareness that makes seeing scary. But Ryan knows he has to use his gift this time, can’t let- no, he can’t be distracted now of all times._

_Buildings line the road, fuzzy and indistinct as the road itself. He sees a figure, maybe a hundred yards ahead, small and wide. Laughter crackles through the air, and the fuzzy outline shakes. An almost face appears- staring right at him- burning embers where eyes should be._

Ryan wakes up with a gasp, reaching for a journal he hasn’t kept on his bedside table for over a decade. He grabs his phone instead, opening up a new note and typing ‘burning eyes’, trying to remember more. Fuck, his memory is such shit. 

He looks at the time instead, groaning at the bright 5:21. There’s no way he’ll fall asleep again tonight, and he’s definitely gonna be tired at work. And they’re filming the start of the episode today he realizes, grabbing the pillow beside him and smushing it into his face. 

Muffled screams attract his dogs, jumping on the bed and his chest. Ryan shoves the pillow over to see them, scratching their necks. He smiles despite everything, loves them so much. 

Sometime between six and seven he dozes off, waking up late- ten minutes before he needs to be at work. He runs around half dressed, kissing and feeding his dogs, trying to make himself look vaguely presentable, and making breakfast. The toast burns because of course it fucking does, and he just takes a granola bar on the way out. 

Today’s gonna be damn spectacular, he can already tell. 

.

“Lookit this everyone, Night-Night Bergara has gone night-night and I’m driving us today,” Shane says, driving and snapchatting because he obviously doesn’t fear for his life like a regular person. (Well, neither of them do, but that’s beside the point.) 

“Shut up Shane,” Ryan grumbles, nestling into the tiny bit of squish the head rest has, trying to fall asleep. It’s been like this for the whole trip, however the fuck long that’s been and he’s in a terrible mood. He gets why front seats shouldn’t be comfortable enough to sleep in, but right now he would kill for a neck pillow.

“Lookit his wittle scrunchie face,” Shane baby talks, and Ryan doesn’t even open his eyes, punching Shane’s arm. 

“Hey! No hitting the driver,” Shane says. “You’re lucky I stopped recording. I can see the headlines already, Night-Night causes accident-”

“Oh it’s not gonna be an accident,” Ryan interrupts. 

Shane snorts, “Big talk for someone who- your little nickname is literally told to small children and babies before they go to sleep.” 

“One day,” Ryan starts slowly, finally opening his eyes. “All they’re gonna find is your legs. Eighty percent of you sure, but the rest-no matter how hard they look- will never be found. And your spirit will just be a pair of ghosty legs, running around aimlessly searching for the rest.” 

Shane bursts out laughing, “Oh man, picturing the pair of legs- aha, I- like a cartoon-”

Ryan can’t help but laugh as well, and then they’re there; Shane pulling over on the side of the road. Their crew is right behind them, and the two stretch while they set up. 

They walk up to the crossroads, and luckily it’s a pretty deserted area, they won't be interrupted by cars. 

“You sure this is the right place?” Shane asks. “This looks like any crossroad in the mid-west.” 

“This is the one,” Ryan confirms, and TJ nods to him, the camera’s light already on. 

“Welcome to another episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural,” Ryan starts. 

“We’re still alive!” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, “This week we’re doing the one demon episode of the season, today’s the day.” 

“D-day!” Shane declares. 

Ryan snorts, “Dude, no.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Shut up, you know why. Alright, so we’re here at Donaxok’s crossroad-”

“We stole a bridge last season, guess what we’re doing here?” Shane says. 

Ryan wheezes, “Yeah, increasing the ghoulboys’ property value.”

“One landmark at a time,” Shane says with a wink.

“So as many of you may have heard about in pop culture-”

“He means the other Supernatural show,” Shane mock-whispers. 

Ryan whacks his arm, “It’s said at certain crossroads you can summon demons and deal with them.” 

“Then in ten years-”

“Fuck off Shane.”

Shane grins wide, “Fine. Ryan here hates Supernatural. But you’ve got to admit, they have style.” 

“They just wear ugly flannel all the time!” 

Shane gasps, “Are you insulting my wardrobe?” 

“You say that like it’s something new.” Ryan takes a breath,“Okay, cutting all that. Donaxok’s crossroad has an abnormally high amount of car crashes considering how rarely either road is used. It’s led many people to question if the second vehicle in such crashes is another car, or a ghost car-”

“Wait, what?” Shane interrupts, snickering. “A ghost car? How- how does that work? Like when the car gets crushed into a little cube the ghosts just floats on?” 

“Just keep rollin’. I don’t know, I don’t like that theory. Cars obviously don’t have souls so.” 

“Obviously,” Shane agrees. And even though he’s clearly being sarcastic, it makes Ryan smile. 

“The superior theory,” he starts. 

“Wo-o gettin’ definitive in season five? Fuck what season are we on?” 

Ryan rubs his eyes trying not to laugh, “We’ve gotten like forty seconds of usable footage.” 

“Burning daylight,” TJ says, and yeah- they should get back on track if the teegster is complaining. 

“Another theory is that Donaxok themself crashes into the cars. On six different occasions people reported another car driving straight at them- but no other car, or car parts, would be found.” 

“Or people didn’t want their insurance to go up,” Shane says. “Which- understandable.” 

“That’s fair. But it doesn’t explain how in the really brutal cases, like lucky to walk away and half the car is spread over the field, you’d expect bits and pieces of the other car to be mixed in with the debris.” 

Shane rubs at his chin, “Yeah but, how fine of detail are people looking at this stuff? Don’t they collect it all and toss it?” 

“…I’m not sure.” 

Shane sighs dramatically, “Mhmm, maybe next time do a little more research on car crashes.” 

“Yeah, yeah I’ll do that.” 

Shane nods, “Good.” 

“Oh fuck you,” Ryan says, turning back to the camera. “Other people have reported a non-human entity bargaining for souls.” 

“No one took a selfie with this being?” 

Ryan exhales a laugh, “No. The car crashes are more recent than the deals, those were mostly around the 1890s to 1940s. For the six car crashes we’re interested in, the earliest was in ‘86 to last year in 2017.” 

“So couldn’t we just set up a traffic camera and do this episode in a year or two?” 

Ryan grins, “I’m touched you think we’ll last that long. But starting at sundown tonight, for three whole days these two roads will be closed off.”

Shane whistles, “Wow, when you say no one uses these roads you really meant it.” 

“Mhmm, another interesting point- all of the six crashes, and most of the others- it’s never people that live in the nearby town, Madison. Statistically speaking-”

“Oh baby, you know how I feel about statistics.” 

Ryan’s shoulders shake with suppressed laughter, “Statistically speaking there should be more Madison residents because they’re more likely to travel these roads. So either they’re avoiding these two roads on purpose or the demon doesn’t go for residents. 

“Here’s a road map,” Ryan says, handing the printout to Shane. “Now as you can see-”

“How’s the viewer gonna see Ryan?” 

He rolls his eyes, “They’re gonna be looking at a digital copy not your oversized head.” 

Shane winks, “You know what they say about men with big heads.” 

Ryan facepalms, “I’ll never be able to unhear that.” Or unimagine it, and that is _not_ safe for work. 

Shane laughs merrily, “Back to your map. I am digging the props here.” 

“Uh huh, anyways- as you can see, there’s no reason to ever take these two roads- besides arguably the shitty scenery. There’s newer roads that connect Madison to highways, and neither of these roads go to any destination that another road can’t do faster. In other words, these roads should never come up on google maps.” 

“Unless there was major traffic on all surrounding roads.” 

Ryan’s eyebrows scrunch together, “Sure, but uh, I don’t think that’s very probable?” 

Shane shrugs, and Ryan continues, “Which brings the next question to mind. Why would anyone ever take either of these roads? Were they lured here?” 

Shane makes eye contact with the camera, doing the slow shake of his head he does when Ryan asks if ghosts are real, and he shouldn’t find that amusing at all. 

“For our three day watch- day one will be pretty ordinary, the usual question and answer stuff. Day two we’ll try contacting Donaxok or any residing spirits in the area using all our supernatural gadgets. Day three we’ll let Shane go wild at the demon.” 

“Oh yeah, entrails and everything must go,” Shane says, tipping an imaginary hat. 

“You guys are heading into Madison?” Ryan asks TJ. 

“Yeah. We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon, text if you need us earlier.” 

The crew clears out fast, leaving the two of them in lawn chairs, his car, and a flashlight that seems a hell of a lot smaller now that it's dark out. 

“Hey you hungry?” Ryan asks. 

“I could eat.” 

“Let’s see if we can get a pizza out here.” 

Shane snickers, “No way. This is too boonies for that.” 

“Wanna bet?” Ryan asks, opening up the Domino’s app. 

“Sure, loser buys dinner.” 

Ryan decides not to point out that if he loses there’s no dinner to buy, silly Shane. 

He enters their address, and sure enough they’re within the four mile radius of a place; Ryan’s stomach doing a little happy dance. 

“Yes! I’ve been craving this all day-” Ryan stops himself, frowning. “The fuck?” 

He tries re-entering the address a few times, but the same error message keeps coming up: ‘Sorry we don’t currently offer delivery to your location but we’ve displayed nearby carryout stores below.’

“I’m within the delivery zone! This is because of the demon, I know it is,” Ryan says. 

Shane bites back a smile, “You should call them.” 

Ryan considers it for a brief moment, but he doesn’t feel like talking to a stranger on the phone, and he’s been trying to eat healthy-ish anyways. 

“Whatever. We have food in the trunk right?” 

“I did pack us dinner.”

 _Ryan’s on a dirt road, familiar feeling. There were buildings once, lost to time. He walks down the road, sun beating down. He walks, and walks, and walks until he doesn’t register movement or changing sights. Not until his feet stop abruptly, mere steps away from the crossroads._

_There’s a kneeling figure, curly copper horns and liquid fire eyes. They’re doing something to the crossroads- something evil. They meet Ryan’s eyes and laugh and laugh and laugh._

Ryan snaps out of it with a gasp, his mind thrust into turmoil, Shane kneeling before him, big hands on his cheeks. 

“Ryan, c’mon talk to me. What’s going on in there? Should we go to a hospital?” 

Ryan swallows, but his throat is still dry. “I… I saw Donaxok.” 

“What.” 

He swallows again, some semblance of wetness finally hitting his throat. “I remember his eyes- like fire. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him, I saw him last night too.” 

“Uh huh,” Shane’s hands fall and he clasps his knees. “Ryan how much did you sleep last night?” 

“He had twisty bronze horns! I know what I saw Shane,” he snaps. 

“Just because you saw it doesn’t make it…” 

Ryan laughs bitterly, “Proof? Real?” 

Ryan pulls himself out of Shane’s grasp, turning away. 

Shane sighs, standing up and sitting back down in his own chair. “You know better than me how sleep deprivation can effect someone.” 

“And I know the last time I ignored the warnings, a kid died!” Ryan shouts. 

“This,” Shane starts slowly, “this has happened before?” 

Ryan nods, can’t meet Shane’s eyes. Shane is gonna hate him after this. They all should. 

“Do you wanna tell me about back then?” he asks gently. 

He doesn’t, but Shane’s the only person he feels like he could tell. And maybe, maybe it won’t feel so heavy if he tells him. (Maybe he’ll be down one best friend-cohost.)

“I started having these dreams about Hector and a train. They started simple, just a friend of mine and the bright, bright train lights. But every time I dreamt it, I saw more and more detail. And soon every time I closed my eyes I saw the train running him over.

“I told my mother, I confessed to a holy man, but the dreams kept coming. They all swore it was my imagination, that I’d watched too many action movies. I told Hector, and he told his parents and then I wasn’t allowed to play with him anymore.” 

Ryan takes a deep breath, “Then one day I was sitting in our garden, and I was hit by the vision for the last time. A month or so later, it came true. An accident they said, unavoidable. Una-”

Ryan’s throat is too dry, he can’t keep talking and Shane’s in front of him again, pulls him up and into a hug. Shane’s still here, his heart beats quicker, disbelieving- he didn’t leave. 

“It wasn’t your fault Ry. You didn’t know it was real. Easy, shh,” Shane murmurs into his ear. 

Ryan pulls back a tiny bit to meet his eyes, “But this time I do. I don’t know what, but I’ve _seen_ the demon.” 

Shane sighs, “Donaxok isn’t real.” 

Ryan’s eyes narrow, “I swear if you’re going with demons aren’t real right now…” 

Shane laughs softly, Ryan can feel his belly shake and it sends a wave of warmth through him. “I know Donaxok isn’t real because you’ve been seeing me in your visions.” 

Ryan glares up at his stupidly attractive face, “Look if you’re gonna make up-”

Shane’s forehead wavers before him, the horns identical from his vision appearing. 

“No fire eyes?” Ryan can’t help but snark, should probably feel frightened or something. But Shane doesn’t look scary like this, he looks almost comical- like a cheap cheesy Halloween costume. 

Shane pouts, “I’m wearing contacts, don’t make me burn them out.” 

Ryan snorts, “So wait, in the vision you were doing something to the crossroads, what was it?” 

He shrugs, “I dunno, it hasn’t happened yet. There is something I’ve always wanted to do though.” 

His eyes begin to almost glow, and Ryan’s nerves finally kick in properly. “Er, what’s that?”

“Become my own literary hero,” Shane declares, pulling a quarter out of his pocket and placing it on the crossroad’s corner. There’s a small pop, and Shane cackles. 

Ryan stares at Shane, too bemused to form the words right away. “You fucking nerd.” 

“Want a quarter?” Shane asks with a grin. 

“Wait a minute! You’re a demon… why haven’t you introduced me to ghosts? You dick!” 

Shane shrugs, “I didn’t wanna ruin the show’s aesthetic. Besides, we’ve only been one place where what you were looking for was actually there.” 

Ryan’s eyes go wide, “Where?” 

Shane grins, “Bigfoot of course. He’s a bit antisocial, but the Foot’s out there.” 

“I can’t believe you.” 

“Well if _I_ were picking the places…” 

“Deal,” Ryan says quickly. “Next season you pick all our supernatural locations and if we get nothing on film, the feature’s about you.” 

Shane laughs, “Sure. You know how we demons seal deals right?” 

Ryan groans, “No, tell me that stupid show isn’t right about this.” 

“It isn’t,” Shane confesses. “But for you I’ll make an exception.” 

“Well, if we’re doing this the proper way then,” Ryan says, reaching up to grasp the two horns. 

Shane shivers beneath his wrists, and Ryan drags him down until they're the same height. He kisses Shane until absolutely nothing about his mouth or tongue or lips or horns feels new, until Shane is familiar once more.


End file.
